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Cincinnati (OH) – University of Cincinnati President Santa Ono, PhD. (@PrezOno) is the national champion of Vehr Communications’ 2014 “Twitter” Madness as the university president with more followers than any of the 68 presidents whose teams were selected for the 2014 NCAA Tournament. Ono (29,300 followers) defeated Kansas State President Kirk Schulz (@kstate_pres; 16,900) in the championship.

Vehr Communications, a strategic communications firm in Cincinnati, Ohio, took a 2014 NCAA bracket, plugged in university presidents and men’s basketball coaches to their teams’ spots and advanced them based on their number of Twitter followers.

“Increasingly, university presidents are using Twitter to share important messages, connect with students, parents and alumni and cheer on their schools’ teams,” said Michael Perry, counselor and vice president of content strategy at Vehr and a former newspaper sports editor. “Dr. Ono is clearly a leader among university presidents nationwide on Twitter.”

Kentucky’s John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari), with 1.26 million Twitter followers, easily won the coaches’ bracket. He defeated Florida coach Billy Donovan (@UFCoachBillyD; 100,000 followers) in the final.

The fifth-seeded University of Cincinnati Bearcats (27-6) begin their 2014 NCAA road to the Final Four against 12th seeded Harvard (26-4) on Thursday in Spokane, Wash. Ono’s tweet when the game was announced Sunday night: "A reporter asked me who I am going to root for in the NCAA Tournament after spending 10 yrs at @Harvard. UC of course! #HottestCollegeInAmerica."

Also noteworthy:• 21 of the 68 presidents are on Twitter and collectively have 81,847 followers; Ono, with 29,300 followers, has 36 percent of those; 46 of the 68 coaches are on Twitter and collectively have 1,961,497 followers; Calipari, with 1,260,000 followers, has 64 percent of those• The Final Four (presidents edition) was Cincinnati (Ono) over Colorado (Bruce Benson), Kansas State (Schulz) over Oklahoma State (Burns Hargis); The Final Four (coaches edition) was Florida (Billy Donovan) over Iowa State (Fred Hoiberg), Kentucky (Calipari) over Nebraska (Tim Miles). • For more, check out the blog post at www.vehrcommunications.com.